Messages - Greg

There is an interview with Derryl Depriest about why Hasbro killed the 12" Joe line. What I found interesting is he said there were 12" Joes in 2011 but no one bought them. I would have shot back that they weren't available at retail so how was I suppose to buy them? The same applies to star wars that he runs. How can he say sales were bad if product was never available?

I have to disagree about the 2011 12 inch figures not being readily available at stores. In my experience that was the only GI Joe product widely available at Target, TRU, and Wal-Mart in 2011. Discount stores also had plenty in 2012. I think only the Skystriker was more plentiful/easier to find out of the 2011 offerings, but Wal-Mart didn't carry it.

There's obviously still a market for 1:6 scale military figures, but it seems as though smaller companies have stepped into that niche. That's acceptable to me, especially if Hasbro can't achieve the level of quality and detail collector's want at a mass retail level. However that doesn't make me too optimistic for the future of articulated 3 3/4" figures from Hasbro.

It appears an extra Stormtrooper may be in the case now. There are doubles of Rex, Stormtrooper, and Wolfe. I can't recall the original case breakdown to confirm if one of those is a new addition or not.

Has the Stormtrooper been shown at one of the shows, or is it presumed to be a Vintage repack like the Navy Commander?

Thanks for the info Jeff. Now I seem to remember reading that at some point after one of last years cons. I gotta say with the recent price hike just a new head sculpt is something of a slap in the face. with a higher price I would want to see some added articulation, perhaps in the form of hinged wrists or a double jointed neck like the larger scale black series figures.

I'm going to be lazy and ask a question without reading the thread... Is there anything new about that chewbacca? For some reason I thought it was going to be Boushh's prisoner version, but it looks like the sandstorm head on the usual VOTC body.

I only collect the movie figures, so the Avengers wave with Hulkbuster and Ant Man wave with Ultron kinda irritate me. I didn't mind the Guardians wave last year where I ended up selling off two figures, but selling off five or six just to get the Build-A-Figure is a pain. The fact that there are plenty of Age of Ultron figures not in the Hulkbuster wave just adds insult to injury. I wish Hasbro would line it up so a wave with a movie BAF would be comprised mostly of movie-based figures.

It's a friend of me who bought stuff for her kid, not me, but I should've worded that better (lot of that goin' 'round eh?). I will be telling her to just write, be cordial, all that... No threats, just let her know we'll handle it if he's not cooperative.

I do find it deceptive... Her feedback may play against her as she's only like a 20-something I think. I dunno. I never filed a complaint so it's not my bag. I'll try and get the link off her tomorrow for you.

Jesse, your posts are deceptive trickery! I feel swindled out of my very valuable time!

Honestly I would just avoid any mention of further action. I haven't personally had experience with the "threats" as either a buyer or seller, so I have no idea of how closely Ebay adhere's to those rules, but it's something I wouldn't want to take a chance with. Hopefully the seller steps up and at least offers to cover shipping costs for a return, so your friend can avoid the hassle of the Ebay Resolution Center.

I dig the responses... I immediately kinda fell in the camp that if you say "you're bidding on the item in the pic", the picture is what you're getting... Item, items... it's possibly a mistake, or intentional, but a single pic of the figure would've been more logical than all 5 of the exact same thing.

To me, the picture makes it look like there was intent to sort of scam a BIN. There's not enough $ involved to make it a huge deal, but I think I'm going to advise a request for some $ back, and if that doesn't fly, threaten to go to Ebay and negative feedback.

Don't threaten the seller that you will go to ebay and/or leave negative FB! That's a rule violation which I believe can actually get YOU in trouble. I'd hate for you to lose out on any claim for doing that.

My problem at this point is that there are too many lines pulling at me, and I can't afford to keep up with everything. Well... I can afford it, but I would feel pretty bad about spending so much! To justify everything that I want currently I would have to start downsizing my current collections (Star Wars and GI Joe, mostly) and I doubt I'll be ready to do that anytime soon.

I may stick with Acid Rain for a bit longer, and try to keep it on the small side. I have my stuff on Ebay at the moment at mostly inflated prices, so it's not like I have been seriously trying to purge. I could probably work in a small display with Winged Victory, Bucks Team, and a Laurel. Oh, and the Flak Bike. And some Agurts... maybe the worker Laurel. Possibly the Raptor as well...

*shameless plug* If you'd prefer to help a fellow collector recoup his costs over getting a clearance deal feel free to hit me up! I have the Marine Quad Eyes, but it's an item I am 100% sure I want gone. I might also be willing to beat BBTS' price by $1.

Holy crap that's amazing! The only thing I'm not too keen on is the lack of a windshield/armor cover for the cockpit, but the overall design is cool enough to overlook that. Looks like a lot of articulation, and the cockpit interior is something else. I'm trying to get out of the line (again), but stuff like this and Bob's team make it really, really hard to do so.

Fishy, but it says the Item not Items. I would have asked before bidding I guess. Hard to tell if this is intended trickery or just a lazy description. The buyer could always ship it back for a refund at worst.

I see these types of listings somewhat often and they are kind of a pain. For the US sellers that do it I think there is some level of trickery by trying to lure someone into a quick BIN, especially when the title and description seems rather vague. For the overseas "China factory" sellers I assume language may play a part.

Just to avoid any potential confusion I only use photos of a single figure, even if it's a BIN with multiples available (in which case I note that I'm using a stock photo). Like Rob's case I always assume there will be that one guy who doesn't read the descriptions, and only looks at the pics.

I'm still in despite the price hike, since I believe it will be short-term. I would hate to miss out on some of the upcoming releases like Clone Wars Clones and the Jawas. Hopefully the quality reverts back to 2012 levels with the price hike but I won't hold my breath.

I don't think the higher price point will be sustainable in the long run. My hope would be the prices come back down to normal levels with Episode 7, especially with lower oil prices and (hopefully) big box stores ordering larger amounts. My pessimistic side thinks it's just as likely for super-articulated 3.75" to be quietly phased out, maybe after a limited "premium" assortment for Episode 7. I can't see the 3.75" collector line keeping pace with 6" at $20 and 5POA at $6-7. The value just isn't there.

Wow. A full 2 1/2 months before the theatrical release? I guess the licensing dollars are being given the greater consideration, and Igers comments that this is a $4 billion movie are going to hold sway on the direction for the franchise.

If the timing is true it is new for Star Wars toy launches (but then so is the movie release date), but it's similar to how Marvel has been handled over the past few years. Avengers Age of Ultron stuff is trickling into stores now, and I believe will be widely available in February. Avengers 1 and Iron Man 3 toys were released in a similar fashion. I think the increased lead time for merchandise makes even more sense for Force Awakens since it is a Christmas movie; gotta make sure stuff is available and give the holiday shoppers time to plan and buy!